In a recent announcement from the state, Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau said, "ETS is the best option for our state, providing an exam at a reasonable price that will meet rigorous college- and career-ready standards and sharing our commitment to meet the needs of rural Montana."

The test will measure the same competencies as the current test, but the advantages of the HiSET program include:

Paper-based and computer-based test delivery to serve the greatest number of candidates

Affordable test fees to keep this valuable credential accessible for candidates, states and educational programs

Up to two retests in the same calendar year for no additional cost

Flexibility with the use of existing test centers, test prep and curricula and a choice of scoring vendor options

English and Spanish versions of the test

Test design and validation by experts in assessment development for fair and reliable results

"ETS is committed to providing Montana with a high school equivalency assessment reflecting the highest standards of educational assessment to advance quality and equity in education for all Montanans," said ETS Vice President and General Manager of K–12 Student Assessment Programs, John Oswald.

"The Phase 1 HiSET is designed to be compatible with current instructional materials used for high school equivalency assessment," adds Oswald. "Phase 2 of the HiSET program will align more fully with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Since instructional programs for Common Core State Standards at the high school level do not yet exist, the Phase 2 HiSET allows time for instructional providers to learn how to teach the CCSS. In addition, it will measure the more rigorous college- and career-readiness standards that most states will use as the goal of a high school education beginning in 2014/2015. ETS and ITP will work with the states in designing the Phase 2 assessments."

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org